1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable information processing apparatus such as a book-type wordprocessor or personal computer and, more particularly, to a portable information processing apparatus having reduced thickness and weight for greater portability.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Portable information processing apparatus such as portable wordprocessors and portable personal computers are finding remarkably spreading use in recent years. An example of such an information processing apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 61-160526. This apparatus has a main body which includes a keyboard as an input device, a control circuit board, an external storage driving device such as a floppy disk drive, an internal power supply, and so forth, and a cover, i.e., a display support assembly, which is hinged to the main part and supports a liquid crystal display device.
In this known apparatus, the main body is composed of a lower part and an upper part. The disk drive device is disposed in the upper part and the key tops of the keyboard project upwardly from the upper part. In order to protect the liquid crystal display surface, the apparatus is designed such that, when the apparatus is not used, the cover is swung to a close position where display surface opposes the main body leaving a predetermined gap therebetween. Consequently, this design undesirably increases the overall height or thickness of the apparatus. In addition, the display support assembly which forms the cover essentially has a large thickness because it contains a liquid crystal display unit including a liquid crystal display glass sheet, light guide plate, liquid crystal control circuit board and other components, as well as a metal frame encasing these components. Consequently, the whole apparatus including the tall main body and the thick display support assembly superposed thereto inevitably has a large thickness and, therefore, is not easy to carry and transport. The large overall height of the apparatus also impairs operability of the apparatus when the latter is used on a desk.